Visitors’ Nights return to S&T campus for fall semester

The public is invited to view Saturn and its rings through Missouri University of Science and Technology’s 16-inch-wide telescope this August.

The Missouri S&T Observatory will open its doors at 9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 24. The sky must be clear for observing and session length will vary.

Visitors’ Night at the Observatory is free of charge and no reservations are required. Each observing session is open-ended. Children are welcome to attend but must be accompanied by an adult. All visitors must be able to ascend a short set of stairs in order to view the object through the telescope.

Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun and the second-largest in the solar system, after Jupiter. It is the furthest planet from Earth visible with the naked eye. It is a gas giant with an average radius about nine times that of Earth. Although only one-eighth the average density of Earth, with its larger volume Saturn is just over 95 times more massive.

Additional fall semester observatory events are:

— The moon, 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27

— The Wild Duck Cluster, 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19

— The Dumbbell Nebula, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24

— The Perseus Cluster, 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16

— The Pleiades Cluster, 8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 12

Built in 1973, the Missouri S&T Observatory is located at 1550 N. Bishop Ave. (Highway 63 North), adjacent to the university’s Stonehenge replica, north of McNutt Hall and west of St. Patrick’s Lane.

For more information, or to have your email address added to an event notification mailing list for future updates and weather cancellation notices, contact Ken Goss at ken.goss@mst.edu.